I’m not a big fan of family drama books. Jonathan Franzen books come to mind here. Dull and boring. Well-written, but not my thing. However, this one sounded interesting in a review I read (I forget where) so I bought it at some point and Kindle lottery selected it for me to read. And even though it really is just about two families and some events that happen between them, it felt more original than others I’ve read.
The story is told from the patriarch of the Dizinoff family, Pete. Pete has a wife and a college dropout wanna be artist son, Alec. They are a white Jewish family; Pete’s a doctor, and life is good. When Alec was a kid, the daughter, Laura, of Pete’s best friend committed a heinous act, was placed in a juvenile home (or some such, I forget the details) and upon her release, she wandered the world for a decade. Upon her return, Laura and Alec get together. Yes, I mean in that sense. Alec falls deeply in love with her. But Pete refuses to see the relationship as a true one.
What I appreciated most about this book was seeing it through Pete’s eyes, rather than Alec’s. A simple shift in narrator and you would have a whiny kid talking about how his parents don’t understand him. We have TONS of those books and simply don’t need anymore. And as a parent of young kids, I know how lucky I am that my kids are still young and love me. Because as they get older, it will get tougher to let them go. Such is a parent’s life. Part of Pete’s dismay is losing his son to college, then as a drop out, never fully understanding who Alec is. But he is also upset that he loses Alec to HER. H. E. R. Her. He knows Laura. He sees Laura for what she did. He can’t forgive. And that’s harder than just about anything for him.
Pleasant Nights 